Justice: Interpreting and Translation Services

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the recent report by the National Audit Office on the Ministry of Justice's Language Services Contract, what steps they are taking to monitor the performance of Applied Language Services (ALS) in the supply of interpretation services to the courts; and what sanctions they have applied in relation to ALS' performance to date.

Lord McNally: We welcome the NAO's acknowledgement that the department had strong reasons for changing the old interpreter booking system and their recommendation to develop a strategy to fully implement the framework. We monitor the service closely and hold regular meetings with the contractor. Service credits have been applied since May where the contractor has fallen short of the required service levels. Statistics on this area published by the Ministry show that ALS fulfilled 90% of requests in April this year, and we expect to publish further statistics later this year. Figures in the NAO report show that more than 95% of bookings are now being filled, while complaints have fallen. We are continuing to push for further improvement.

Justice: Magistracy

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government what response they will make to the report by the Magistrates' Association Active, Accessible, Engaged-The Magistracy in the 21st Century.

Lord McNally: The Government set out their intention to reform the criminal justice system in the White Paper Swift and Sure Justice: the Government 's Plans for Reform of Criminal Justice. The report by the Magistrates' Association was taken into account in the development of those plans. The Government are not planning any other specific response to the report.

Wills

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will take forward the Legal Services Board's recommendation to regulate will writing.

Lord McNally: The Lord Chancellor will await the Legal Services Board's final recommendations, due in early 2013, before making any decision.

Children: Looked-after Children

Lord Condon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken to reduce the number of looked-after children from London boroughs who are based in east Kent.

Lord Hill of Oareford: We want to see significant improvement in the care and support offered to any looked-after child who is placed away from the authority responsible for their care. On 3 July 2012 we announced in a Written Ministerial Statement urgent work to reform all aspects of children's residential care including the significant difficulties that can arise when looked-after children are placed outside the local authorities responsible for their care, often at a considerable distance from their homes.
	As part of that work we established a task and finish group that includes a senior official from Kent County Council's children's services, senior children's services managers from London boroughs and other local authorities, children's homes provider representatives and government officials. This group is giving detailed consideration to measures for securing much better planning and assessment of individual children's needs, and of any risks, before a child is placed out of authority. This would include improving arrangements for ensuring that the specific care and support needed by the child will be met, assessing the safety of the environment around the home, and developing far stronger relationships and clearer accountabilities between authorities responsible for placing children and those authorities where the placements are located.

Energy: Wind Farms

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of the effects of wind farms on the prices of nearby residential property.

Baroness Verma: The evidence of the impact on property prices of the presence of a wind farm is mixed. Studies by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Oxford Brookes University (2007), the Berkeley National Laboratory (2009) and the UK Centre for Sustainable Energy (2011) found no conclusive evidence that house prices have been affected by wind farm development.
	The evidence of the impact on property prices of the presence of a wind farm is mixed. Studies by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Oxford Brookes University (2007), the Berkeley National Laboratory (2009) and the UK Centre for Sustainable Energy (2011) found no conclusive evidence that house prices have been affected by wind farm development.

Food: Commodity Markets

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for preventing speculation in essential food commodities; and whether they will legislate to limit forward contracts to those between producers and end users.

Lord De Mauley: The current available evidence does not indicate that speculation has played a significant role in recent global agricultural commodity price spikes. Therefore the Government do not have plans to prevent speculation or legislate on the issue.
	In 2010 Defra published an extensive report, Agricultural Price Spikes 2007-08: Causes and Policy Implications, Annex 6 of which considered financial speculation.
	http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/security/price.htm
	The Government strongly support the G20 commitment to improve the regulation, functioning and transparency of financial and commodity markets, including position reporting. Making data more comparable across different trading venues will make it easier for regulators to analyse, interpret and act where necessary. The Government also support the global initiative to ensure that, where appropriate, standardised over-the-counter derivatives are traded on exchanges and electronic platforms (including commodities derivatives).
	The Government support the principle of strong regulatory oversight powers on commodities markets through the application of a position management regime based on strong supervision and market monitoring.

Government: Staff

Lord Grocott: To ask Her Majesty's Government which members of the Government are entitled to sit in the Cabinet.

Lord Strathclyde: I refer the noble Lord to the list on the No 10 website at http://www.number10.gov.uk/the-coalition/the-cabinet/ which sets out the members of the Cabinet, including those Ministers who attend Cabinet.

Groceries Code Adjudicator

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Groceries Code Adjudicator on supermarket policies on supply agreements.

Lord Marland: The Groceries Code Adjudicator has not yet been established, as the Bill is still being considered by the House of Commons.
	Once the adjudicator has been established, he or she will present an annual report to the Secretary of State, who will lay it before Parliament. The annual report will include a summary of cases referred to arbitration, investigations carried out and cases in which the adjudicator has applied enforcement measures.

Immigration: Ports

Lord Brabazon of Tara: To ask Her Majesty's Government at which continental European ferry ports and railway stations United Kingdom passport controls operate.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: UK passport controls operate at the ferry ports of Calais and Dunkirk. There are UK border passport controls at the Eurostar railway stations at Fréthun, Paris, Brussels and Lille. There is also a UK passport control at Coquelles which is neither a ferry port or railway station but is the French side of the Channel Tunnel.

Immigration: Ports

Lord Brabazon of Tara: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their criteria for deciding whether to operate United Kingdom passport controls at continental European ferry ports.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: There are no set criteria for the establishment of UK controls at European ferry ports. The UK passport controls at European ports which exist at present were in response to high level discussions between the governments of the UK and France concerning the significant numbers of illegal migrants in northern France who attempted to gain entry to the UK. These controls were established under the treaty signed at Le Touquet in 2003 and supporting domestic legislation which empowers Border Force officers in a designated UK control zone within those ports.

Immigration: Ports

Lord Brabazon of Tara: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to install United Kingdom passport controls at Caen (Ouistreham) ferry port.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: There are no plans to install United Kingdom passport controls at Caen (Ouistreham) ferry port.

Malaysia

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the determination of the Immigration and Asylum First-tier Tribunal in Chee Mun, Seah (Appeal No LA/18249/2012), they will grant British Overseas Citizens who hold no other nationality but have renounced their former citizenship of Malaysia discretionary leave to remain where they produce clear evidence of non-returnability to Malaysia in accordance with paragraph 9.1 of chapter 22, section 2 of the Immigration Directorates Instructions.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: It is not Government policy to grant discretionary leave purely on the basis of nationality. It remains open to Malaysian British Overseas Citizens to make an application for leave to remain under the existing immigration categories including on exceptional grounds, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Milk

Lord Knight of Weymouth: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to pay more than the cost of production for milk in all government departments and executive agencies.

Lord De Mauley: The former Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, Jim Paice, wrote to all government departments on 27 July 2012 to establish the position in central government on the procurement of milk. Responses were clear that government departments are not directly involved in milk purchasing. Private companies are contracted to provide catering services to staff and each contract must meet the mandatory Government Buying Standards (GBS) for Food and Catering Services. Companies declined to say how much they pay their suppliers for milk on commercial sensitivity grounds.

Royal Society

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they will take to assist the activities of the Royal Society.

Lord Marland: The Government work closely with the Royal Society to develop and deliver a broad range of science policies. The right honourable Secretary of State for Business delivered a major speech there in July, reflecting the importance the Government attach to science and research as a driver of economic growth.
	As the UK's national academy of science, the Royal Society is an important source of authoritative, impartial advice. Reports on topics as diverse as the extraction of shale gas; open access to scientific information; and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education help ensure that science policy is based on the best available evidence.
	The Royal Society currently receives government funding of £47 million pa for specific programmes and projects, principally to support research fellowships, which allow a cadre of the most capable academics to work full-time on research. This helps to maintain excellence in the UK's research base, and secures future economic returns from our investment in science.
	This funding also enables the Royal Society to work with the Government, and other partner organisations, to promote STEM careers and to support public engagement with science and research. For example, we have asked the Royal Society, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering, to lead a four-year government-funded programme to tackle the persistent issue of a lack of diversity in STEM.

Schools: Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen management systems with respect to both best and worst teacher performance in maintained schools.

Lord Hill of Oareford: New arrangements for the appraisal of teachers in maintained schools came into force on 1 September 2012. The appraisal process has been strengthened by requiring performance to be assessed against the relevant standards. Under the new arrangements, governing bodies and head teachers have more freedom to design appraisal policies that suit their individual circumstances and there is no longer a limit on classroom observation. We have also published an optional model policy for schools which covers appraisal and capability procedures and allows poorly performing teachers to be removed in about a term.

Schools: Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they propose to improve the retention rate of good teachers, especially in deprived areas.

Lord Hill of Oareford: It is vital that all schools, including those in deprived areas, are able to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. In terms of recruitment to the profession, the Teach First training programme has an outstanding record of placing excellent teachers in schools in deprived areas, and the Government are supporting Teach First's expansion, helping to place even more top graduates in challenging schools. Teach First aim to train 1,500 new teachers in 2015-16, more than tripling the number of participants it recruited in 2009-10.
	We have taken steps to improve completion rates in initial teacher training (ITT) and retention rates of teachers already in service. The Teaching Agency takes the retention rates of trainees and their employability at the end of the course, as well as the quality of course provision, into account when allocating ITT places to providers. The department also monitors teacher movement and wastage rates in the workforce. These movements are taken into account when we set recruitment targets for ITT.
	Good teachers must be appropriately incentivised, and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education has asked the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) to consider ways in which greater flexibility in the pay system might help schools-and particularly those facing challenging circumstances-to recruit and retain the best possible teachers. The STRB's recommendations are due to be submitted to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education at the end of October.

Schools: Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the case for regular and full statistics of teacher mobility (1) within the profession, and (2) with respect to those leaving the profession.

Lord Hill of Oareford: The department routinely publishes statistics on teacher mobility on an annual basis. The latest data, for publicly funded schools in England, on new entrants to teaching, teacher turnover and those leaving were published in February 2012 as additional tables to the Statistical First Release "School Workforce in England, November 2010". The latest data are accessible through the following web link: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000997/index.shtml.
	The published statistics are derived from the Database of Teacher Records which is a by-product of the administration of the teachers' pension scheme. Time series of this data are available back to the early 2000s. The Department of Education is currently looking at the viability of producing statistics on teacher mobility by linking teacher records across years from the annual School Workforce Census (which was introduced in November 2010). The results of this work are likely to be published in 2013 and will include further statistics as the data allow.

Schools: Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to establish a system of career paths for teachers, and (2) to encourage the independent charity Teach First to expand its activity; and what is their assessment of the career path model used in Singapore.

Lord Hill of Oareford: The Government do not believe that it would be right to establish a centrally prescribed career structure for teachers. Head teachers are best placed to make decisions about the different types of role that are needed in their schools, and to deploy their teaching staff accordingly.
	The Government are always keen to learn lessons from high-performing education systems around the world, including that of Singapore, but the policies we pursue must be right for schools in this country. We do not have any evidence that a more formalised career structure for teachers, such as that used in Singapore, would bring any appreciable benefits to improving the quality of teaching in England, which remains our priority.
	The Government have already announced that the number of Teach First participants will increase from 1,000 in 2012-13 to 1,250 in 2013-14. We have also given our support to Teach First's aim to increase this to 1,500 in 2015-16, more than tripling the number of participants it recruited in 2009-10. Teach First has recently expanded into Kent and Medway and will move into the South West region in 2013-14. We are currently considering A Teach First's feasibility study on further geographical expansion and will announce the findings of this shortly.

Schools: Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enhance career professional development programmes for all members of the school teaching profession.

Lord Hill of Oareford: High-quality professional development for teachers is important, both to consolidate and improve teaching practice and to attract and retain the best teachers in teaching. Research suggests the most effective professional development includes: collaborative development of practice by groups of teachers, inquiry-based research, reflective practice, and peer-support mechanisms such as coaching and mentoring. The Government believe their efforts are best focused on helping schools identify and access this kind of professional development. We are creating a national network of teaching schools to grow the capacity for schools to do precisely this, by supporting teachers to collaborate and reflect critically on their practice. The new Teachers' Standards, introduced in September 2012, set a clear benchmark for the level of practice expected of all teachers, and will provide a valuable tool to help teachers identify and address their development needs. In addition, we have launched a National Scholarship Fund to encourage more teachers to deepen their subject knowledge.